Exhuminator wrote:
... Firstly, we only got new games rarely, so we were often stuck with a hard game, because it was the only new game we had for weeks or months. In that regard, you had to git gud at the game, because that was your only choice. Secondly, games back in the 80s (early 90s to extent) were hard on purpose, to prolong the amount of time they took to beat them. This was done to discourage people from beating a game too quickly, thus returning said game the day after they bought it. ..
I always figured that was due to console games pursuing wholesale imitation of arcade games, whether it made sense or not. As a kid I would wonder why 2D platformers bothered counting a score, or why Sega Genesis games would let you write your last 3 initials after you game over. It disappears as soon as you cut the power, it's not like you're leaving your mark on a pizza parlor or bowling alley somewhere. But arcades then were revered like PC's are today, I guess like an 80's - 90's version of "can it run Crysis?"
On that note, it annoys me when some people compare microtransactions in mobile games to paying a quarter to play an arcade game. When a business owner bought an arcade, they probably had a lease on the building where the arcade stayed, so the space it occupies costs them something. At the very least they're also for power and repairs if it breaks. If they feel so inclined they can toggle the dip switches and set it to "free play". That isn't the same as sending a credit card transaction to a server somewhere to unlock something inside a piece of software running on hardware which you supposedly own. Then again, we're also living in an age where auto manufacturers are trying to put DRM in your car so you can't take it to a third party mechanic or just work on it yourself, so there's that.
Not something I have as much an issue with in real life.
